Bhubaneswar: The Odisha police Monday arrested a person named Hemanta Dash (59), who reportedly committed burglaries at 500 places across India, an officer said. The special squad of Commissionorate of Police arrested Hemanta Dash from Cuttack where he had gone to commit a crime, said Umashankar Dash, DCP, Bhubaneswar.
According to the DCP, Hemanta has admitted to have committed burglaries at around 500 places all over India. He confessed to have looted over Rs 5 crore in all the cases, an amount he spent on alcohol and brothels.
Hemanta travelled to Gangtok, Kolkata, Bihar, Mumbai, Chennai, Shimla, Nainital and Jammu and Kashmir, among other places, on plane and stayed at expensive hotels.
On record, Hemanta is involved in 82 cases of burglary in Odisha. He was presently wanted in three cases, one each at Badagada, Bhubaneswar and Chandrasekharpur. Two court warrants were also issued against him.
Hemanta got involved in criminal activities at the age of 24 along with his associates who are mostly dead now. Hemanta has informed the police that he was initiated into the criminal world, during his college days in 1986. Then he had met a burglar in police custody. Since then, he took this route and looted mostly cash in cities like Mumbai and Chennai.
Police said Hemanta will be produced in court Tuesday. They are trying to find out if others are involved with the arrested man. Sources said that Hemanta had confessed that at times used to befriend before robbing them. However, he has time and again asserted that he did not assault or cause physical harm to anybody.
